Farewell to Glacier Park

The rain we encountered at the Glacier Park Lodge continued, but did we let that stop us?   No!  We headed to our next camping place, in the area called “Two Medicine”.   Along the way we stopped to see Running Eagle Falls which was remarkable in that water was falling from two different levels.

  We also encountered our first "bear warning" on the park trails, signs posted to alert hikers and….big, fresh scat!    No doubt about it, it feels a little creepy hiking here!

Don't worry, we're ready for 'em!

Lily drove us up to 5900 feet, and we saw a dozen white mountain goats!   They were right at our campsite, licking ashes in the fire pit to fulfill some dietary (mineral) requirements. Sorry, no photo, not quick enough!   It was a drizzly, gray afternoon, but we donned our rain gear and headed out on the trail.   The mountains in this area are truly stunning and the clouds and mist made them all the more mysterious-lookng, don’t you agree?

That evening after supper we turned on the NOAA weather radio and were dismayed to hear a forecast for snow!   5-8 inches the next night and 4-6 more predicted for the following day.    If we were seasoned mountain travelers I suppose we might have laughed in the face of the approaching storm, but we’re “newbies”, and thought we’d just as soon hightail it out of there instead!

So we headed back over Marias pass to West Glacier on May 16, and camped at a tiny campground on the north end of Lake McDonald called Sprague Creek. The sun was out for the most part and the weather further improved over the next three days such that we just stayed put!   We went on several hikes to beautiful places as these photos attempt to show.

Bernie above Avalanche Creek, plunging down a deep gorge...the water, not Bernie!

McDonald Creek Falls

Snyder Lake

Besides bear poop, other trailside attractions are beautiful flowers and mule deer.   These guys are easily distinguished from our white tails by their white butts.   They are quite friendly guys, sharing hiking trails with us, passing within just a few feet.   They seem unconcerned about being shot.   Bernie’s explanation is they are saying, “Go ahead, shoot me, just remember you gotta haul my dead body 5 miles up and down these mountain trails.  You sure you wanna do that?"

But today, "2-in-da-woods" became "2-on-da-road” again and we said farewell to Glacier National Park, vowing to return some day!    We are headed west to the city of Kalispell, MT, on Hwy 2 to get some supplies and an internet connection.   After that, a visit to a microbrew in Whitefish is planned, with camping to follow for several days in the Flathead National Forest.   By Memorial Day we hope to be in Idaho as we’re running low on potatoes...bad joke… 

Still in love after 7 days on the road!